Chase.

He couldn’t catch up. He wasn’t losing him, but he still couldn’t catch up to him. Mr. Coward over there was fast.

Will was running with strengthening magic enhancing his body, making him kick the ground with so much **** it took conscious effort not to end up jumping high. Each step was more of a leap, with at least a second or two where his feet didn’t touch the floor. The wind pushed against him from sheer speed already surpassing professional athletes. The man he was chasing was matching him.

The open wasteland left the man nowhere to hide or lose Will. Would this be a battle of stamina, then? Or would a sudden attack by another dinosaur stop one of them? Where was this guy even running off to?

The distance between them was at least 20 meters. Will dismissed the idea of shooting him as soon as it popped into his head. What he wanted was this guy’s cooperation. Already off to a bad start if he was so distrustful that he’d run away from someone who saved his sorry ass.

‘Ugh. If he was gay we’d be able to seduce him! Why did we have to find a straight man, dammit!?’

Of course Ishtar could tell at a glance. It was her thing.

Anyway, this chase was getting them nowhere. Either that or it was getting them somewhere not good for Will. He didn’t want to raise his voice, but with no other options…

“Hey, stop running! I just want to talk!”

Didn’t work. Of course it didn’t.

For a brief moment Will considered letting him escape and then tracking him from afar. Could’ve been a good idea if he had any measure of tracking skills, but he didn’t. And with no place to hide in this open waste, there was no way to sneakily tail him.

Dammit. What to do? Every second that passed was a second closer to wherever this guy was leading him, and Will couldn’t bring himself to believe he was simply running in the direction of his house.

…

Or maybe he was? Not his house, no, but his… tribe, maybe. A group like the incubi and succubi. Maybe he decided that his only chance of survival was strength in numbers? Would there even be more of his kind here? Too many assumptions. What if…

‘Huh? WILL, LOOK OUT! SHIT!’

What?

It happened in the literal blink of an eye, in the moment both his feet left the floor in the middle of his run. He didn’t feel them kicking the ground again. Instead, they awkwardly flailed as they kicked empty air still. He felt disoriented as he looked down at the floor and saw himself leaving it behind without losing forward momentum. At the same time, he felt a sharp pressure on his chest, his shoulder and his ribs, like something trying to pierce him through.

Black talons, sharp and pointy. Had Will not been already using magic to strengthen his entire body as Aoi trained him to get used to, he would’ve had several holes in him the size of his own forearm.

He noticed the shadow cast on the floor as he rose higher and higher off the ground. A… A bird. With his stomach churning, Will looked up. It was indeed a bird, one the size of a baby elephant and with fully black feathers.

Will had just become the target and possibly the meal of a giant bird of prey. And yet, despite the dire situation…

“Wait! Fuck, let me go! Shit, he’s getting away!” Will cursed and struggled to free himself of the bird's **** grip, watching as the silhouette of the man he'd been chasing became smaller and smaller. The last glimpse he managed to catch of him was the man casually waving him goodbye.

“Agh! Dammit!” He yelled and grit his teeth. His struggle continued, but the more he did so the more he noticed how useless it was. He couldn’t move his shoulders and the talons on his stomach and ribs also immobilized his waist. Worst of all, every second they rose higher and higher into the air.

By that point, if Will tried to free himself and happened to succeed, he would end up in a freefall unimaginably more dangerous than the one from before, one he wasn’t sure even his strongest level of strengthening could save him from. At least the gamble didn’t seem worth it at the moment. After all… the bird had to land somewhere eventually, right?

…

Hopefully it would be sooner than later. Will’s strengthening magic was strong, and he had the energy to keep it going for a long while, but… not forever.

…

‘This is bad, Will.’

No shit.

‘Dammit, why didn’t I notice until the last minute!? What the hell is this thing?’

So Ishtar didn’t know. Well, not like she would know everything. Or be right about everything. Better to keep in mind that the Fire Rex can fire three blasts of fire every hour instead of two.

Will felt… resigned to his fate. Or rather, keeping his head cool was the best course of action here. Despite the perilous situation, he was safe for the time being. He was unharmed and protected. The fact that the bird hadn’t dropped him yet said it was actually taking him somewhere. Was he really food? Don’t birds usually bring food to the nest to feed their…?

…

Oh.

Okay, the best course of action, then, was to keep his eyes down and look for a place that might be safe to land on and try to free himself over it. Will didn’t feel like meeting mama bird, papa bird and the babies. Not ones this size.

Glancing down, Will did notice a few points of interest, if useless to him in his current situation. For example, a large body of water over to his left. At least, large for a body of water in the dry wasteland.

It was an oasis, surrounded by actual greenery for at least a couple of meters around it. Trees, bushes, grass… Might have made for a nice view if not for the predicament he was in.

The other noticeable thing was the rocky mountain area he was approaching. Holy hell, these were far off in the distance before. How fast were they flying? How LONG had they been flying?

Will got the idea of landing here. Flying over the mountains meant a closer landing spot, which should’ve meant a better chance of surviving said landing. Problem was there was no such landing spot. It was nothing but jagged, pointy rocks everywhere, and Will paid enough attention in school to know what would happen to a fast falling object with forward momentum landing on a sharp, pointy and very hard rock.

Well… Now meeting the bird family seemed like an inevitability.

But hey, Will actually liked birds, so maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.